The pace of innovation and the number of marketing resources today is nothing short of incredible. An astounding 1,876 companies across 43 different marketing categories, including SEO, social, video marketing, sales enablement, mobile analytics, and dozens more, are in existence, according to VentureBeat.
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What’s more, many of the categories didn’t exist in the report just one year earlier.
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But just one marketing category continues to perform well, year after year: email marketing.
The reason is clear: For ten years in a row, email generates the highest ROI for marketers. For every $1 spent, email marketing generates $38 in ROI; it also gives marketers the broadest reach of all the channels available to them. Despite the plethora of tools available to marketers, email marketing is simply the best bet for business growth.
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THE CHALLENGE
​​​WHAT: Grow your email list.
​WHY: The top paragraph sums it up.
​WHEN: Now.
​HOW: Take a screenshot of your desktop that includes the day's date and total subscribers; this will verify how many subscribers you start the Challenge with. (Can you add 10% - 20% of that number in three months?) Also download the Email Guide: specific ways to start adding to your list today
​HELP: I'm here: email or call/text 704-619-2489​​
LET'S GET STARTED​
⋆ Hit reset on how you approach sending emails. How motivating is it to know that you will SELL every time you hit send?! (The conversion rate is significantly higher than any posts/events/advertising you put on social media.)
⋆ Join the TCR Facebook group where more email list-growing info will be discussed
CREATE TWO EMAILS A MONTH​
​Putting together an email should never take more than hour
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What is your call to action? What do you want your customers to do? In many cases, book seats for an upcoming class or event. But what if your studio is more about walk-ins and groups than classes? Never stop sharing the many reasons for a walk-in visit (girls day out, friends in town, grandma day, mental health day) or booking a group (ladies night, office event, holiday gathering, family reunion, going away party, neighborhood outing, PTA, book club, wine group). And be specific about what you offer as walk-ins: clay (wheel, hand building), canvas, pottery painting, mosaics, wood art, etc.
Each email update should include:
- A welcome message from you: what's coming up, thank your customers for their support, welcome any new staff and share any updates you've made to the studio, and/or studio news
- * 1–3 upcoming events: each should include a photo, brief info and a link to online sign-ups
- * A promo for booking a child's party, ladies' night or any specific group, with links to online sign-ups or a contact form
- * A photo of new inventory (up to three pieces) and/or new painted samples
- A photo or two of summer fun in the studio
- Summer hours​
* These are your call to action items: they will drive walk-in sales, groups to be booked and seats to be sold for classes and events.
​Before hitting send, send yourself a test; be sure to look at the email on your desktop AND phone. If you can't read it on your phone (the type is too small) or you're scrolling, scrolling, scrolling because there's so much content, your customers will struggle to get through it (and are much less likely to convert). Send a draft to your manager or a friend and have them test the links and ask for honest feedback.
Continue planting these seeds (your studio as an outing) and you will see the results. The marketing world often uses the Rule of Seven: it takes seven different "touches" before a potential customer takes action. ​​​​​​​If you start sending your "just looking" customers emails this month, you're looking at conversions happening in November (or sooner). Just in time to make gifts for Christmas.
Please join me in TCR's Email Challenge. The prizes are pretty awesome, but you're already winning when your list is growing and emails are sent consistently.
THE PROOF IS IN THE SALES
A snapshot of an east coast studio sending two emails every month consistently.
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